Any other options?

eyeman1

Hi
Just wanting advice on whether I'm missing other options?
Background
age 58
Higher rate tax payer.
Final salary pension kicks in at 60 so OK in terms of income to live on (at present). Also plan to remain working part time.
Have cash ISA's with max allowance last year and bank saving accounts with monthly high interest 5%-6% options.
1. A PPP with Standard life with profits matures in 1 month pot value 92K
2. Endowment payment matures in 18 months value 90K
As I don't need immediate access to the monies I was planning on opening a SIPP by transferring the PPP and later adding the endowment.
Other option was leaving the monies invested with Standard life- I'll need to contact them to see how well the fund has performed as the yearly statement doesn't give much details.

Am I missing any other options?
Thanks

kidmugsy

Pension contributions for spouse?

eyeman1

Hi Kidmugsy
My wife already has a final salary pension but not a SIPP. She is just in the higher 40% tax bracket. Any benefit tax wise in setting up one for my wife?

kidmugsy

eyeman1 wrote: »

Hi Kidmugsy
My wife already has a final salary pension but not a SIPP. She is just in the higher 40% tax bracket. Any benefit tax wise in setting up one for my wife?

If she pays HRT now, but won't later in life, there's good case for contributing enough to, say, a SIPP to avoid the HRT. That's assuming there will be no complications with Annual Allowance or Lifetime Allowance. Or, does her FS scheme let her buy extra years of service? That might be a good alternative, but it would probably tie money up until the Scheme Retirement Age i.e. it would be inflexible.

Is there any chance she'll want to stop working before Scheme Retirement Age? Then she might have an unused personal allowance vs income tax for some years. Drawing down from a SIPP could therefore be very tax-efficient. That might justify bunging as much into a SIPP as she can, rather than contributing only enough to avoid HRT. Once she passes 55, the money in the SIPP is available practically on demand.